Chance Or Fate? Azayaka Meets Elle
The bustling town of Cronliffe was a great place for Azayaka Shizukesa to gather food and other useful items for what would be a long and seemingly never-ending adventure at this point of time. This merchant town particularly had good prices for most of the goods on sale, something that benefited Azayaka who didn't have much money on her. Though one thought kept passing through her head, and that being that her ventures would be rather boring by herself. "If only I had a friend my age..." She internally said as she sighed on the outside. It was a nice summer morning in the town of Cronliffe, however, it was about to get much, much warmer. Elle Ignatia, princess of her house, came walking steadily over the hill, a few of her beautiful orange locks falling out of her hood, the girl cradling a staff in her arms like one would hold a new born child, resting in the crook of her arm. She stopped outside the gates, biting her lip in thought. She had been on the road for about a week now...and who knew what would come up next? She snapped her fingers, the staff fading into a shower of orange sparks, and Elle began her stroll into the town. For now, the woman was quiet, however while she walked, heads began to turn to look at the living flame that had graced the area. On her dress, just below her breasts, lay a small ruby crystal, engraved with the crest of her house. She tossed back her hood, her head becoming free of its confines, her bright orange locks falling from the hood and coming to rest just past her shoulder. Her ruby red eyes seemed focused on a single objective, and her imposing height, as well as the way she carried herself left nothing to imagine. She was a powerful, and noble woman, who had come to this town for her own reasons. Whispers began to fly around town, however, Elle was not concerned, she merely smiled through it, turning to step into the market place, stopping right next to Azayaka. "Hello good sir," She would say to the shop keep. "I've come to resupply, tell me, what do you have in store?" She said, and the man at the desk merely locked up, seeming stunned by Elle's appearance for a moment. She let out a small giggle, turning to look at Azayaka. "Oh, why hello there, I didn't see you." She said, chuckling once more and giving a wink to the counter man, a form of incentive for him to get going with her request. In the meantime, she let her eyes rest upon the white haired girl before her, everything about Elle seemed to give off a comforting warmth, just her being in the room had livened it up considerably. Azayaka was stunned at the girl's appearance, it was nothing that she had seen before, and if it was something that she had seen before, it seemed to look like something a princess would wear. "She looks the same age as me as well..." Azayaka mused as she couldn't get over the beauty of the girl that her eyes were gazing at. Managing to snap out of her thoughts, she decided to avoid the stare of the stranger and continued on with her business, checking the amount of money she had left and not had spent. Elle blinked as the woman before her didn't respond, but she could tell her looks had captivated her for a moment, turning to watch the shopkeeper come back with a list of the things he had in store. Elle folded her arms over her chest, and the smiled, chuckling a bit. "I'll take the food and all the cloth, some for me, some for her." She said, pointing over to Azayaka, walking over to the white haired girl, something in her mind found her interesting. "I'm Elle, by the way, sorry for the staring earlier, I meant nothing bad by it." She said, the shopkeeper going to say something, before Elle held up her hand. "Price is no object, just get the things." She said, waving the man off. This woman, reminds me of myself...she appears to be a wanderer. she thought. Slightly shocked by the stranger's kindness, she soon realised that the girl was trying to make conversation with her. "I-It's fine..." She quickly stammered, actual words struggling to come out of her mouth, but she soon regained her composure, taking a deep breath in and out. "Just curious... but your clothing... are you perhaps a princess of some sort?" Azayaka asked nervously, not wanting to offend the person. Elle chuckled softly, flicking her perfect orange hair out of her eyes, arms still across her chest, gazing down at the woman before her. "Well, technically no, but I like to think of myself as one." She said with a giggle, holding out her hand for the other girl to shake. "Tell me miss, what's your name? I'm Elle Ignatia of house Ignatia, home of some of the greatest fire users." She said, keeping her hand out, the shopkeeper struggling to get everything together in the background. "And please, don't be nervous darling." she said. Cracking a slight smile, Azayaka stuck her hand out to meet the other girl's hand, unintentionally holding a rather firm grip with the girl due to her martial art past. Brushing her hair out of her right eye with her available hand, she then went on to introduce herself. "I'm Azayaka Shizukesa, travelling mage and martial artist." Elle smiled and shook back, admiring the girls firm grasp of her smooth and sliky hand. She was a strong one, she could tell by looking at her. "Its nice to meet you Azayaka-san." She said, turning her head as the shop keeper placed all the things Elle had ordered for both her and this new girl on the table. Without a word, Elle slapped a pounch of coins on the counter. "That should be more then enough." She said firmly, turning to the martial artist for a moment. "I see...I to am a travelling mage, but not so much a martial artist." She said, opening up her bag and starting to put things in, sighing softly. "Do you have any firm objective in mind?" she asked. Slightly relieved that beautiful girl that went by the name of Elle had paid for her, she kindly responded to her question. "Well, I want to earn enough money to see through my parents' retirement seeing as they have done enough for me already but my true goal is to one day, become a master of a Dojo," "What about you, Elle- erm... Elle-sama?" Azayaka stammered, unsure how to address someone who seemed to be a higher status of her yet the same age. Elle nodded kindly, her smile growing as the girl spoke, humming quietly to herself. "Hmm...well, I have some pretty big motivations myself, to much for one woman to handle I think." she said with a giggle, putting her bag back on her back, after she finished packing, and then handed Aza her bag. "I think I will tell you my goals, but on one condition. It gets lonely on the road...wanna team up?" She asked. While she was enjoying the girls company, her real motive behind it all was that she knew that she would need help with her plan, she didn't think she could do it on her own. "Team up?" Azayaka repeated as if she didn't understand the meaning of those words. Receiving the bag Elle had given her, she swung it on her back before having a short think about it. "Well I do want a partner, I can't deny that, but we've only just met." Azayaka thought as she contemplated the offer. "It couldn't hurt to team up I guess, what's the worse that could happen. I'm sure it'd be fun anyways!" She thought reaching her decision. "Sure, why not?" Azayaka said, responding with a bright smile. Elle held her breath gently, waiting for the response from the other girl. She knew it was sudden, random, and maybe a bit creepy that she had just asked out of the blue, but she was getting nervous as of late, she had a feeling she was being followed by someone...or something, and some extra hands never hurt matters. She let out her pent up air, her chest deflating gently as she grinned. "Awesome, thank you so much. To be honest, I've already been experiencing some road loneliness as of late...not used to having no one around, I come from a fairly packed home." she said, rubbing her head sheepishly as she gave a closed eye smile, turning and waving to the shopkeeper, thanking him for all the stuff. She stepped out of the market, hoping Aza was close behind. "Which direction are you headed from here?" she asked. "Direction? Well the nearest town that has a dojo to challenge is twelve kilometres to the North so I was planning on heading in that direction for the time being." Azayaka stated as she tried to recall if she anywhere else she wanted to go. "Though we can change direction if you want?" She offered, trying to please her new found travelling partner. Elle nodded to her friend, thinking for a moment, tapping her finger against her chin. She had no real idea where she needed to go, but North of here...what was north of here, other then that dojo. Think Elle, think! I know the town she is talking about, but there is something else important there as well...that's it! she thought, smiling and shaking her head. "North is fine, I know someone in that town, well, not personally, but they could be a rather big help." she said, lifting her bag onto her back. "Shall we get going?" she asked, heading directly for the exit of the town. Nodding to her new partner's question, Azayaka proceeded leaving the town and heading to the town up north. "who thought I would get a partner so early on in my journeys?" Azayaka happily thought as she smiled on the outside.